What's happening to our brains?

I"m intrigued by a number articles I've read and conversations that I've had recently that allude to our propensity to live faster and faster.

Richard Shaw of Massey University drew my attention to an article by Nicholas Carr at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google which suggests a number of changes in the way we read and think as a result of the internet and the way in which we engage with it. He suggests that we are becoming "pancake people" flattening out our intelligence until it is wide flat and perhaps scattered. As he puts it at the end of his article " as we come to rely on computers to mediate our understanding of the world, it is our own intelligence that flattens into artificial intelligence." Despite all this he does point out that this may not be the only interpretation. In reflecting on the reactions of intellectuals to the advent of technologies such as hand writing and the printing press, it is difficult to know what our "pancakeness" might mean for our own future thinking and learning processes.

The second article seems to me to be somehow linked. Written by Christine Rosen, and sent to me by Stella Belliss, the article can be found here. It looks at the way our brains respond to doing many things at once, and the fact that doing this many not be particularly conducive to learning given what we understand about the neuroscience of multitasking.

My wondering here is how are we affecting our own abilities to learn and enjoy life, given that many people can relate to feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available to them and the need to move quickly between projects just to keep up. In a world of increasing connection, and demands that we work together more, how should we best manage our time and our connections? Interestingly, I think that Kevin Shadix is asking something similar in a recent post on his Shady Learning blog.